STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF SENEGAL IN WEST AFRICA

AIR SENEGAL TAKES OFF

After unsuccessful attempts to create a fleet of planes under the Senegalese flag (Air Senegal International went bankrupt in 2009, and Senegal Airlines lasted from 2009 to 2016), Air Senegal was born and seems to be finding its place gradually on the international and national scene.

The airline is part of the PSE and is aiming to become a reference airline (like Ethiopian Airlines is for the Horn of Africa) and a first class carrier to promote the image and reputation of Senegal in the world.

PORT DEVELOPMENT (PAD)

The autonomous Port of Dakar (PAD) reflects the city’s economic vitality. It is a hub for most of the country’s import and export of goods, and as such serves as a reliable contributor to the steady growth that Senegal has enjoyed for the past several years. Since it handles close to 95% of foreign trade and accounts for more than 90% of customs revenue, the Port of Dakar is clearly the main platform for the logistics used in Senegal’s socio-economic development. The port was created in the old town in 1865 and has been a showcase of the changes in the national economy.

In 2015 the Port of Dakar handled a record +15 million tons of goods. Traffic and flow figures, indicators of the port’s competitive position, showed double-digit growth: +17% for Malian transit, +16% for container shipping, and over 3 million tons for exports. These figures are evidence of the port’s dominant position, a model for the sub-region. Furthermore, the new management would like to enlarge the port and turn it into West Africa’s “Port of Excellence” by 2023. This may well come true as the port continues to develop modern installations that meet the highest international standards.

MAJOR ELECTRIFICATION PROGRAMS

Since his election Macky Sall has been furthering projects already underway to provide electricity and internet to the whole country, both needed for the development of the digital and numerical economy. Private producers supply 56.5% of the electricity. The Société nationale de l’électricité, a semi-public group, has the monopoly for distribution, and supplies 43.5% of the power. This is equivalent to a national electricity coverage rate of 61%. The production of adequate amounts of high quality energy is one of the major goals of the PSE. To reach this goal will require recourse to different sources of energy, restructuring the sector, strengthening the institutional framework and, most importantly, creating an environment that encourages a permanent role for private investors and operators. Besides these positive structural elements, the Senegalese energy market has an undeniable potential for growth, thanks to the country’s climate (solar energy) and the existence of fossil fuels (oil and gas)

Senegal is proud of its diplomatic tradition that has stood up well for several decades. Senegal’s first president, Léopold Sédar Senghor was a pan-Africanist, a visionary who worked untiringly for regional integration “in concentric circles”. His vision has been borne out by the creation of the eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the recent signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA).

A ONE-STOP-SHOP FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Recognizing that the cost of energy affects both households and businesses and more generally the country’s economic appeal, Senelec has produced a strategic plan called “Yeesal Senelec 2020”, and attached it to the Emerging Senegal Plan (PSE). Section 3 of the plan is devoted to “the increase of sales and the improvement of customer satisfaction by providing a high quality low-cost service” which capitalizes on good commercial practices. Senelec is trying to achieve continuous commercial improvement by improving its Customer Relations Management (CRM), offering various payment methods and deploying automated meter reading devices also known as smart meters. To improve the quality of service, especially for its Major Accounts, Senelec has created a new department called Corporate Customers whose strategy is based on commercial performance and efficiently catering to customers whose subscription is higher than 34KWh. This strategy gives unprecedented attention to ways of interacting with corporate customers and fully embraces the challenges of customer satisfaction, the company’s image and sales and incentivizing profit margins. The new Corporate Customers Department is responsible for coordinating and supervising activities, and for ensuring the application of management measures specifically for corporate customers through:

• the technical department which facilitates the work of connecting businesses to electricity sources, and manages the one-stop-shop and invoices for corporate clients; • the commercial relations department which is in charge of supervising and monitoring business relations with its business partners.

This department manages the commercial relations Service for the private partners and the Commercial Relations Service for the public and institutional partners and the like.

Senelec is seeking to capitalize the experiences of its corporate customers by introducing new tools that represent progress and coherency. This is the framework for the introduction of the One-StopShop, a tool that greatly simplifies and facilitates the management of new electricity connections and customer subscriptions.

The main activities of the One-Stop-Shop are to: • Serve as a liaison with all the Senelec services in charge of requests; • Receive technical files that require approval; • Give advice to businesses on preparing applications for approval; • Process subscription applications; • Participate in innovation and technological monitoring in order to create paperless services; • Ensure satisfactory deployment of proposals for digital solutions; • Provide project monitoring and follow up that directly affect Senegal’s World Bank Doing

Business rank; • Etc. These measures have been designed to improve Senegal’s commercial attractiveness and its Doing Business rank.

A REPUTED DIPLOMATIC TRADITION

Since the 1960s, President Senghor and his counterparts, Hamani Diori of Niger, Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia, and Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia thought about creating an “Institution Francophone”. Although no formal plans for the institution were announced, President Senghor wrote in Esprit magazine in 1962: “Francophonie is this integral humanism that embraces the Earth, this symbiosis of dormant dynamics of all continents, of all races, awakened by theyr complementary warmth”. On March 20, 1970, in Niamey, Niger, representatives of 21 states and governments signed a convention establishing the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation (ACCT) whose purpose is to promote the French language and spread its members’ culture in a spirit of sharing and brotherhood. The Francophone project has been growing ever since. In 1997, the heads of states and governments met at a summit meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam to adopt a political component that would expand the scope of its actions, and then the ACCT became the Organisation internationale de la francophonie (OIF). The first OIF Secretary General was Boutros Boutros Ghali, followed by Abdou Diouf, the second president of the Republic of Senegal, who led and left his mark on OIF for close to 12 years and played a leading diplomatic role in promoting Senegal at the highest level. We see evidence of this diplomatic outreach by Senegal and its political representatives in the appointment of many eminent Senegalese to high level functions in international organizations, e.g. Amadou Makhtar Mbow (UNESCO Director General 1974-1987), Jacques Diouf (FAO Director General 1994-2011), and Moustapha Niasse, former Prime Minister of Senegal appointed as Special Envoy in 2012 by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to help Congolese parties reach an inclusive agreement of power-sharing during the transition to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Macky Sall, elected president in 2012 put an end to the dramatic times of his predecessor and normalised diplomatic relations. In 2015, Senegal was elected as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council for 2016-2017. In February 2019, the U.N. Secretary General appointed Mankeur Ndiaye, a Senegalese politician and career diplomat, as his Special Representative for CAR and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

From a geostrategic vantage point, Senegal gained the trust of ECOWAS around end 2017/ beginning 2018. After several high level diplomatic negotiations, ECOWAS authorized Senegal to take charge of the ECOMIG (ECOWAS Mission in The Gambia) operations. In January 2017, the ECOMIG military force entered The Gambia to put an end to the despotic reign of Yahya Jammeh, who became president on 22 July 1994 through a coup d’état, and to help Adama Barrow, the newly elected president usher in a democratic transition.

SENEGAL, MEMBER OF SEVERAL ORGANIZATIONS: STRONG IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Senegal is a member of various international organizations and international regional organizations, according to the international legal classification, e.g. the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU – a regional organization under ECOWAS composed of 8 countries, 112 million inhabitants, a market of 90 million consumers whose currency is the CFA franc). ECOWAS was officially established in 1975 to promote the free movement of goods and persons among its 15 member countries, representing a regional bloc of 360 million inhabit-

ants, i.e. about 300 million consumers. Senegal is also a member of the Senegal River Basin Development Organization (OMVS) and the Gambia River Basin Development Organization (OMVG).

The country also benefits from preferential market access to the European Union (EU-ACP, European Union/Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States agreements), the United States (African Growth and Opportunity Act) and Canada (Canadian Initiative Act).

These measures enable the quota-free export of consumer goods, with either zero or reduced rate duties.

SENEGAL, MEMBER OF OHADA (ORGANIZATION FOR THE HARMONIZATION OF BUSINESS LAW IN AFRICA)

The Treaty of Port-Louis that created the OHADA legal and judicial system was signed on October 17, 1993 (revised on October 17, 2008 in Quebec City, Canada). OHADA is an international organization with international legal identity, whose purpose is to develop legal and economic integration among its member countries, facilitate trade and investment, and guarantee the legal and judicial security of commercial activities.

OHADA business law is used to further economic development and create a vast integrated market that can make Africa a center of development.

It currently has 17 member states. For more information, see: www.ohada.com

A PROGRAM TO ADDRESS THE IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

In his speech celebrating the 60th anniversary of Senegal’s independence, President Macky Sall spoke at length about the COVID-19 pandemic. He praised the mobilization, dedication, courage, skills and professionalism of the medical personnel and announced an unprecedented plan to address the pandemic at the healthcare and economic levels. Economic growth will probably drop from 6.8% to under 3% in 2021 as a result of the drastic drop in tourism, hotel and restaurant patronage, transportation, trade, cultural activities and public works.

PRIORITY WILL BE GIVEN TO ENTERPRISES

A four-prong socio-economic resilience program has been introduced to strengthen the healthcare system, help families on the verge of poverty, support businesses and employees in dire circumstances and alleviate shortages of all types. • The healthcare sector has received 64.4 billion FCFA to cover the medical costs of responding to COVID-19. • The State will cover the cost of two months of electricity up to 15.5 billion FCFA for the 975,522 most needy households and the cost of water bills up to 3 billion FCFA for some 670,000 households. Sixty-nine (69) billion FCFA have been allotted to one million households for the purchase of basic necessities, and 12.5 billion FCFA will be made available to the Senegalese diaspora. • The private sector’s macroeconomic and financial stability and job maintenance will be protected by a funding program and tax/ customs measures. The sum of 302 billion

FCFA will be released to pay the State’s suppliers, and a financial mechanism with simplified procedures will allocate 200 billion FCFA to enterprises that are the most severely affected by the health crisis. Furthermore, 100 billion FCFA will be allocated as direct support to the hard-hit sectors of the economy such as transportation, the hotel industry and agriculture. With regard to taxes, the State will reimburse the VAT in a shorter period of time and will suspend the payment of taxes for companies that promise to keep their staff on the job during the crisis or pay more than 70% of the salaries of employees who are temporarily unemployed for technical reasons. SMEs and companies in the most severely affected sectors will be given extra time to pay their taxes. Similarly, the State will suspend the recovery of tax and customs payments due from the companies most affected by

COVID-19. • To compensate for shortages, the socio-economic resilience program will ensure that there is a continuous supply of gas and oil, basic goods, and medical and pharmaceutical products without any price increases.

A 1,000 BILLION FCFA FUND

All expenses incurred in implementing the socio-economic program will be covered by Force-COVID-19, which is a pandemic response fund of 1,000 billion FCFA, financed by the State and voluntary donations. Businesses and individuals who contribute to the Force-COVID-19 by making donations to the Public Treasury account can deduct these donations from their future tax statements. To ensure inclusion and transparency under the best possible conditions, Force-COVID-19 will be overseen by a steering committee composed of representatives of the State, the National Assembly (all parties) and the civil society.

The 33 enterprise support measures can be consulted : https://covid19.economie.gouv. sn/mesures